dothack: BONE WITH A CELL PHONE
by BPin
Summary: The story of a man whose own promiscuous philosophy is put to the test during the dawn of the Pluto's Kiss incident.


.hack//BONE WITH A CELL PHONE  
  
December 24, 2005.  
  
On a cold winter night in the New York City suburb of Keyport, New Jersey, two men, childhood friends since elementary school, found themselves walking down San Juan Hill, a road which sloped downwards, aptly named for all the Hispanics living in the small apartments lined up on it. One of the men, Horatio "Bone" Segara, grew up in one of those cramped living quarters before making his success in the city as an independent film maker, who drew upon his own experiences as a child to create a touching, auto-biographical tribute to his past. The other man, Vincent "Redblack" Cantos, so named for the day he beat up a gang of seven students with a checkers board, wanted to help make Bone's dream come true, because of a change of heart he encountered the summer before.  
  
Bone was a man who got around in New York. He had the tireless business of keeping up with his simultaneous trilogy of girlfriends, while trying to slowly ease them into the truth and reveal that not only was he cheating on them all, but that he also loved all three of them.   
  
It stemmed from a revelation Bone had received while still in high school. He was an amateur in the grandiose world of romantic relationships; not once had he met a girl he wanted to settle down with. However, innately envious of love, Bone had convinced himself that he would know the true meaning of the world. Yet, one day, another revelation came to him while meditating on a night blanketed with thick snow; it would be a disservice to humanity if he could give his life to only one woman. He briefly considered philanthropy, after school, but he abandoned the notion, seeking both love, and a clean conscience.  
  
So, after Bone graduated from high school, he immediately took his camera and took the foolish route of becoming an independent film maker. His semi-gritty, yet witty, films made him a name for himself in the New York small time art film community.  
  
Redblack came from a bit of a troubled past himself, but his was a trouble of luxury. As a child, he lived comfortably, and expected the world to be just as accommodating to his own customized needs; that is to say, his wants. He was an irritable boy, of few acquaintances, and fewer friends. His above average work in school was the only quality in him that gave Redblack a glimmer of hope in the future. That, and the constant attention with his friend Bone.  
  
Bone took to Redblack immediately; his inert cockiness and attitude was all the more appealing than the bore of schoolwork and the dinginess of home. Driven to understand Redblack better, Bone began to spend less time moping around his small home in despair, and spent more time in his small bed, meditating on how to better himself as a young boy; how to make Redblack proud of him.   
  
Bone became a student of high caliber. Over time, his determination to make Redblack proud of him transformed into his determination to understand people; to love people. Opening up to everyone around him, he made friends of people whom Redblack was a mortal enemy. Life in middle school for Bone became very interesting, where as Redblack dived into obscurity and angst.  
  
Once they entered high school, they had drifted into mere ghosts of the past to one another. While holding no ill will towards each other, they will still uncomfortable with what the other represented. To Bone, Redblack was the absence of the will to change, to adapt, to grow. To Redblack, Bone represented social promiscuity, the need to belong, and the willingness to forsake individuality. They were both wrong.  
  
But, one day, Redblack saved Bone's life. These details are merely generic.  
  
It was during the waning years of their high school days. Redblack's family had splintered into divorce, which further justified to him his descent into violent nihilism. He began to lash out at all he encountered, and never returned to Keyport High School. Redblack had adopted a new law to follow; his own.  
  
Bone had heard of his old friend's name spoken in quiet conversations in the school's hallways and lunchroom. Genuinely worried, Bone had gone roaming the small town of Keyport, looking for clues to his friend's disappearance and violent demeanor.   
  
He eventually found poor Redblack in a puddle of his own blood. His own code of living had cost him some. Bone was fortunate enough to have a cell phone on hand, and called the emergency. He followed Redblack to the hospital room, and waited for him to recover. They shared a moment afterwards.  
  
"What happened to you Vincent?! I was never so scared in my entire life to see you like that!" Bone shouted at the bandaged Redblack, sobbing. "...why couldn't things be like they were...when we were kids, huh?"  
  
"...I would like it very much if life could return to just when we were kids." Redblack murmured under his covered mouth.  
  
"They can be." Bones grabbed Redblack's hand and made that solemn oath; friendship for life. Redblack now had someone's light to live for.   
  
But this is not the story of their repentance, but the story of Bone's promiscuity.   
  
But Bone received the biggest change of his life; on the day he found Redblack, the day he searched for him, he had denied himself a date with a girl he thought he was in love with. His encounter with Redblack rendered him confused yet once more: did love mean obligation?  
  
This is when he vowed, for himself, to not limit himself to one love in his life. He wanted many women.  
  
"Bone? Can I borrow your cell phone? It seems that my battery's dead." Redblack took Bone to the nearby miniature park, with a swing set from which you could see Staten Island. December 24 was an odd night to go out when you weren't shopping for Christmas presents. Outfitted in black coats, the two friends swung on the worn out swing set and themselves drifted into the night.  
  
This is when Pluto's Kiss attacked the world. The wireless systems were obliterated; the world was left in madness; and the entire world drifted into night.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Bone got off of the swings and began panicking. "Dammit, you gotta understand...now I'm screwed!"  
  
"You're what?" Redblack wondered.  
  
"I was planning on calling up my girlfriends once I got home...to tell them about the way I truly feel about all of them..."  
  
"Dammit. I'm not exactly a love doctor, but even I know that what you're doing is pure stupidity." Bone didn't respond to Redblack's criticism of his philosophy, but shook his head.  
  
"I wanted to spend Christmas with the women...who I love...who love me."   
  
"...it is all about who loves you, isn't it? I'm not gonna criticize you for that; everyone needs to be loved. You're just different." Redblack got off of his swing and looked at the moon and the stars for the first time. "The night sky is usually obscured by the city's light. Well, isn't she a beaut'?"   
  
"...I wonder if any of them are thinking of me now."   
  
"You're hopeless aren't you? ... Did you at least tell them you were coming back to your home town?"  
  
"Yeah. I left my phone number, my address...everything. Directions, even."   
  
***  
  
//Girlfriend 1  
  
Girlfriend 1 was a cute girl with an unimportant name as of this narrative. But she was named, at birth, Angela Wisp. She found the simultaneous light-out caused by Pluto's Kiss a terrifying experience; calling up Bone was not on her priority list right now.  
  
//Girlfriend 2  
  
Girlfriend 2 was a wild girl, a heavy drinker and partier, and was attractive to her core. Christened at birth as Sandra Sans, she was in a drunken reverie; she was not aware of the Pluto's Kiss incident.  
  
//Girlfriend 3  
  
Girlfriend 3 was an ordinary girl with humble ambitions, and was a talented homemaker and writer. Genuinely concerned for the welfare of her boyfriend, she, christened Chris Lauren at birth, she used her car to quickly capitalize off the confusion to get to the small town of Keyport as soon as possible. She was quite fortunate to leave before the authorities began to set up barriers.   
  
***  
  
An hour and a half later, after madcap driving, Chris was at Bone's doorstep.   
  
At that moment, Bone decided that loving the people who would go to any length to ensure your safety was more important than loving people out of moral obligation.  
  
This is a situation in which Pluto's Kiss helped change a man's life.  
  
***  
  
.hack TM and © 2001-2003 BANDAI 


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